Kristian Ramos, the campaign manager for Way to Win’s midterm messaging research project, said: “We could easily lose them in the bank. This government has done 10 times more on Covid, has done a wonderful job on the economy, but Latinos have no idea. And the economic fear in this group is gone.”
Half of those surveyed by Way to Win said they had more confidence in the Democratic Party on jobs and the economy, while 54 percent said they liked Biden’s handling of the economy. Of those who have an unfavorable view of the party, 22 percent say they are too liberal or socialist, the poll found.
Still, the majority of those polled said they wish Mr Biden could have made more change than he has so far, which pollsters said was linked to “deep concerns about the economy”.
“They don’t care ideologically as long as someone talks to those pain points,” said Mr Ramos.
The Equis report found that Latinos who were otherwise inclined to listen to Mr. Trump, implied their support for that campaign because of his tough stance on immigration and the “importance of Hispanic identity.” But by mid-2020, none of these issues clearly set Trump supporters and Democratic voters apart. Instead, the impact of the pandemic appeared to drive a larger number of voters, and the Trump administration’s approach to reopening the economy was embraced by a majority of them.
The Equis survey found that Democrats are losing ground to Republicans on economics. When asked which party they think is better described as hard work, better for the American workers and the party of the American dream, Latino voters were about evenly split.
“The challenge is that 2020 has not ended, the same dynamics have not ended,” said Carlos Odio, the co-founder of Equis. If there’s a moral to the story, Mr. Odio added, it’s that less partisan Latinos gravitated toward the candidate they trusted more in their main topic. “So competing for the vote may pay off.”
